Genesis 47
7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and introduced him to the king. Jacob gave the king his blessing, 8 and the king asked him, “How old are you?”
9 Jacob answered, “I have lived only a hundred thirty years, and I have had to move from place to place. My parents and my grandparents also had to move from place to place. But they lived much longer, and their life was not as hard as mine.” 10 Then Jacob gave the king his blessing once again and left. 11 Joseph obeyed the king’s orders and gave his father and brothers some of the best land in Egypt near the city of Rameses. 12 Joseph also provided food for their families.
Ezra 8
35 Those who had returned from exile offered sacrifices on the altar to the God of Israel. Twelve bulls were offered for all Israel. Ninety-six rams and seventy-seven[o] lambs were offered on the altar. And twelve goats were sacrificed for the sins of the people. 36 Some of those who had returned took the king’s orders to the governors and officials in Western Province. Then the officials did what they could for the people and for the temple of God.
Richard: Let us offer gratitude to God by working to save His lost children.
Let Us Become Beloved Children and Receive the Seals
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
September 14, 1958
We have the tradition and connection left behind by the believers in history. If anyone forgets this, it would be an ungrateful betrayal of the universe, which incorporates the heavenly way and the human way. Now is the time to realize this.
In the internal life of faith, what is the first thing you should feel and find before the heavenly way? It is not joy, happiness nor glory. Since humanity has brought sorrow to Heaven, the first thing to find is heavenly sorrow, which has been ruling the earth. You should know that despite time and place, the seekers of the truth are the ones who are carrying the cross and establishing the altar of heavenly appeal under unjust oppression to remove the heavenly tears.
Why does Heaven drive its beloved children out to the path of the cross? It is so that the heavenly connection may reach me, through the world, the country, the nation, the society and the family. It is so that the connection of the world directly reaches us. Thus, you must feel God’s Shim Jung, which must have you experience in your single lifetime the sorrow of 6,000 years to establish you as God’s children.
When God created the Garden of Eden, He wanted there to be eternal happiness, but the blessing of Eden totally disappeared due to the fall of man. Thus, God became a God of sorrow, rather than one of happiness. He has been trying to regain the country and the entire blessing of the universe while being persecuted by the country and people. Since God’s bitter course throughout history is entangled with human tragedy, His sighs and His situation are deeply related to you. Since this is the responsibility of humanity and Heaven, in seeking God, man must know God’s sorrow. We can defeat the myriad satans with God’s anguish, sorrow and grief. You must realize that without experiencing such an historical Shim Jung, you cannot fight against the enemy.
Certainly people agonize over lost property. Some mourn over lost children. Though there are many who bewail a loss of earthly valuables, there is no one who bewails a loss of the self and of God. Few indeed grieve over the loss of the self, which cannot be exchanged even for the universe, and of God, who is more glorious than the universe.
For the seeker of truth, sorrow is not in losing material property. It is in having lost the self and Heaven. The path of the truth, which is to find God, is the path of finding sorrow. That is why Jesus said, “Follow me with a cross on your back.” Therefore, we can stand before the Father only when our sorrow, anguish and anger can replace His. The Father’s footsteps have been such in the 6,000 years. In order for you who are connected with the historical providence to make the connection with God, the center of the historical providence, you must be able to bear such sorrow, agony and grief.
This is the way of Heaven. Although the historical ages are strewn with sorrow, God has been walking this path to fulfill His will: that is, to find all things, all people, His children and God’s own self. God is not operating fully as God because He lost Heaven and earth through the fall of man. He lost power, dignity and authority. The movement to restore this is the standard of human norms and the heartistic standard of the seekers of the truth. By all means, we must regain the lost universe.